Unexpected Gear of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade 

Thanks for the comment Campfire. I know, I had no idea rubber boots were so old. Glad you liked the video!

You all probably dont care at all but does someone know a way to get back into an instagram account?? I was stupid lost the account password. I love any tricks you can give me.

@Cory Israel Instablaster :)

@Harlem Devon thanks for your reply. I found the site through google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

@Harlem Devon It worked and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy:D Thanks so much, you saved my account :D

Thanks for checking it out Lance.

You bet. Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for the comment. I'm not exactly sure about the process for making violin bows, except that horsehair is used to make the string. Given the abundance of horses, you can assume they could have made their own. According to the invoice, somebody must have wanted a well-crafted one delivered by the "Amazon Prime" of the day.

@@FrontierLife I was watching an interesting documentary on the vast Buffalo I was under the impression that settlers and Indians killed off all the Buffalo but apparently some researchers figured out that the cattle that were being herded across the plains carried diseases that killed off the Buffalo apparently they did have sufficient numbers to withstand the blatant hunting predation but had no natural defenses from cattle diseases just like native Americans had no defenses against European diseases like small pox etc. apparently travels came upon huge herds of Buffalo dead from disease. We really screwed up the ecosystem. Buffalo are well adapted to the grass plains more than cattle, eat the grass but not down to the roots , their teeth are adapted to grind up native grasses, their hooves churn the soil, dung and urine seep in, and they can calve during severe winter weather with near zero infant calf mortality, their systems can go into a kind of hibernation during cold and burn less calories, they make swallows in the ground wear water can accumulate and plants by these can be up to 4 inches taller due to rain accumulation in these small ditches , all in all the Buffalo is the key stone species in the plains right up there with the Beaver another highly required in the ecosystem animal. I think we need to put more and more Buffalo and Beaver back into our open land ecosystems to make for a healthier environment

@@danielt.3152 Thanks again. Sounds like an interesting idea. Personally, I'm a little skeptical of the claims made in the documentary. I've heard them before, and have my doubts (although I won't rule the idea out completely). In his book, Journal of a Trapper, Osborne Russell notes that even by the early 1840s buffalo were already disapearing in the northern Rockies, far from any Texas cattle. In another book Charles Goodnight, author J. Evetts Haley recorded a story in 1867 when Goodnight came across "thousands and thousands" of dead buffalo in Texas. Goodnight claimed they had died of starvation (due to drought). As a man who knew stock and the natural world, I have to believe him. Also, I would question why bison began dying in the 1870's when cattle and bison had been intermingling in the southwest since the 1600s? Texas cattle did carry "Texas Fever" which killed many blooded cattle, but I have to imagine the ticks infecting longhorns were an age-old enemy of the bison (this is a guess, not to be taken as a fact). None of these rule out the documentary's claim completely, but they are some questions I have until I decide to change my mind on what the main driver of the mass destruction of the buffalo really was. I'd agree with you that bison are very important to grasslands, but would suggest cattle are just as good at developing grasslands. Living in ranch country, I've seen examples of both species doing good for the land, or having a negative impact. It depends on the people that manage them. Alan Savory is one popular person who has demonstrated impressive results using cattle in brittle environments. In the end, we may disagree, but, hey, that's ok, right? I appreciate you leaving your thoughts and comments on the videos. Hopefully, it will stimulate more good discussion about history.

Hey, Bob. Good point, and I'm glad you mentioned it. Of course, several of the lists do show goods directly bound for forts. The 1836 list does show goods bound for Horse Creek. Fort Hall wasn't that far away, and maybe some of the goods went there. However, I'd (personally) be cautious of saying "all" went to forts. People can be peculiar. Thanks again for your comment.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for checking it out!

Glad you enjoyed it

Thanks for pointing that out, Tom. It's really interesting when you start to piece together the timeline of all the things going on during the Old West.

Thanks for the comment, James. The last rendezvous was in 1840. However, there was a "reenactment" rendezvous in 1843 hosted by Sir William Drummond Stewart. You can use this link if you want to learn more about that: www.mman.us/stewartwilliamdrummond.htm